HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP

by Keith McCloud

  “Hello, Hollis, I am Stella’s mom, Fay. I know you have had a rough time and ended up here. You’re probably wondering why in the world we live in a village cut off from the world. Well, Stella’s grandpa years back wanted to get away from all the crazy things in the world and live a simple life, so him and his friends moved out of the city and they found this area and built this village and they made friends with the Indians that were close by and they all lived in this village. We try to live as primitively as possible, but somethings we do have like running water and we have solar panels that were built here in the village, and we have enough heat from them to warm water and some lights if we need them, but mostly we do everything without any kind of power. Everything was great until the vampires came to town and then bit one of the Indians and then a few of them were bitten and that’s how we ended up with the Wasioux. Also the vampire brought his little pet along, the wereboon: yes, a mixed breed between a baboon and a werewolf. This makes a very mean animal. They protect the vampires and the only time we worry about them is when it is a full moon, or a double moon. They run wild up and down the streets and they will try and kill you. Most of the time they are with the vampires running up and down the streets and the vampires are looking to feed. We have an agreement with the vampires and we give blood, and that usually holds them over and they leave us alone for now until full moon time. That’s not the way it used to be,” Fay says.

  “Mom, I think you have told Hollis a lot for now and he is probably ready to eat. Hollis, as you can see, we have lots of food. We also feed some of the neighbors. We take turns on who is making breakfast in the village, and this morning it was our turn to cook, so that’s why you see all this food. After we eat we will walk around the village so you can get to know the village and the layout, and then we will come back and start doing some training. Max, here is a bowl of food for you and here is a fresh bowl of water for you,” says Stella.

  Max starts eating really fast like she is starving and then she is slurping up the water. “Wow, I think she was hungry and thirsty,” I say.

  “Max, your food bowl will always be here along with a bowl of water as long as you are staying with us,” says Fay.

  Max lets a large bark out: it’s like she knows what she is saying. She is so excited that her little tail stub is wagging back and forth as much as it can for not really having much of a tail.

  So we all sit down to eat. There are eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, and even biscuits with gravy. There is so much food and, believe it or not, I am starving. I don’t even think we say a word to each other, because we are just eating. Man, it is good.

  “Hollis, are you about done eating? We have a busy day and we have to get to training,” Stella says.

  “Yes, I am ready to get this journey started so we can hurry and save Cody before they kill him. I can’t even believe I am saying that my best friend can actually be killed by someone: it just sounds strange to say it and believe it. If I hadn’t seen how mean those wereboons were, I would not have even believed any of this. So yes, I am ready,” I reply. We get up from the table.

  “Can I help you clean up the table and help with the dishes?” I ask.

  “No thanks, Hollis, we’ve got this. I have a couple more families coming over for breakfast and after that we ladies will clean up. Thanks for the offer,” says Fay. We get up, Stella, Max, and myself, and head outside.

  “Okay, Hollis, now you will see the village is pretty big. The village is set up like an old English village from Europe. Of course I have never been to Europe, but I have seen pictures and my grandpa used to tell me all about it. Sounds like a wonderful place with lots of history. According to my grandpa, it has taken a few years to build this village. They are trying to mirror the old village they used to live in. I love the cobblestone roads. Since we do have horse and buggies here, then we do need to have an area to keep the horses along with our town veterinarian and a place to keep the buggies and repair them. That is all done in that building. It has a stable for the horses along with an area to keep the buggies in. As you can see, since this is our only transportation, they are very busy. They are very busy all the time.

  Then, right up the road here we have our schoolhouse. When inside the schoolhouse you will see a huge courtyard and that’s where we all have recess. They built it inside the schoolhouse so that we would be safe at all times inside a building. The courtyard is big enough to play soccer in. The principal and his wife also have their home built inside the school. This works out because someone is always at the school making sure nothing happens to it. Over to the right here is our marketplace or grocery store. Out front we have the fresh produce like a farmers’ market, and then inside it has everything you need from clothes to food. Like an all-in-one place. Then to the left of that we have a haircut place and it is for males and females. Then between this first set of walls you will see our farmland along with our pastures that have our horses and cows and pigs and goats. As you can see, these walls are huge and I think they said the average to be like four or five stories high. We also have these walls around the whole outside. Come on, let’s walk down the road a little. Now, right outside the walls here and, as you can also see, the huge gates are open, because it is safe right now and the vampires will not be trying to bite us. Over there just outside the walls is where the Wasioux have their village. They mostly just have places to sleep, because they cohabit with us during the day. They use our market; they send their kids to our school and everything. We walked past a few of them and you couldn’t even tell the difference. I know their village pretty well since I used to go over and see Sandy. Now that they have Cody captured, they do not let any of us over to visit anymore, except for my cousin whenever he wants to go over, but we will get Sandy to get us back there, plus we have a new person for them to meet. They have not confessed to capturing Cody, but I know he is there. He was last seen there in that village. He had gone to see Sandy and then never made it to her. She swears they keep telling her they don’t have him, but Otaktay, who is her brother, is a liar and a bully and he is lying to her. He killed her parents when she was younger. He claims he did not, but they were beaten up really bad and had cut marks all over them. We know he had the wereboons do it for him. She hates her brother, but she has to live there. In the village there I think they have like a dungeon room or something: I know that’s where Cody is still there in their village. They have him heavily guarded and not even Sandy can get to where he is. They, though, I am sure are taking good care of him because they do not want his blood to become infected with any diseases because the blood would be tainted and it wouldn’t have the full effect. That blood has to be very pure and they know that. So they will keep him in a nice area with plenty of food and water. They are probably treating him like a king, just not letting him get loose. They desperately want to kill him on that double moon and drink his blood. His blood can make several of them immortal. Also, if they do this they will make him a vampire. Not only do we need to train for combat, we also need to sit here and look down in that village and watch their every move so we can set up a time to rescue him. Sandy has volunteered to help us with that. She will start watching who comes in and out of all the rooms and she will write down each time this happens.”

  “Are they taking him food and who is taking it, and what time are they taking food to him?”

  “We have to study every move they make. We are going to have to recruit some help. I know my cousin Trevor will help us, along with my other cousin. We all know that we cannot allow them to get any of Cody’s blood, or we are all doomed. We cannot make a mistake, there are too many lives counting on us. I am not trying to scare you or overwhelm you, but those are the facts and we have to do this perfectly. By the way, we are keeping this hush-hush, because we do not know whom we can trust. We can’t even trust people in our own village because we do not know if the vampires have cut them any deals. Even though they would probably not keep their word, as you know some people ar
e just not that bright and they will believe whatever they say if they think it will benefit them. I know I have been talking a lot, but there is a lot to go over and I need you to understand how important this is to all of us and not just you. I need you to understand how any little mistake can mess everything up. I need you to understand also how important a part you play in this role. This is why I am talking a lot, telling you everything and trying not to forget anything. Also how important training how to fight is. They are strong vampires, not as strong as they are on a full moon, and not as strong as they will be when the double moon is here. On a double moon they can scale the walls: they don’t because they really don’t want to kill us because they need our blood. Speaking of which, I didn’t show you the hospital. I will show it to you on our way back. This is where we go to give blood for the vampires so that they don’t bite us. We will have to put a bandage on you also so that it looks like you gave blood. If we do not, then they will think that something is up and that there is something wrong with you, or that you have special blood. This is another thing we forgot to do with Cody and that’s why the vampires started to become suspicious. They never saw him with a bandage and we would all have one. They never saw him go in and out of the hospital to give blood. This i s my mistake, I did not think about that detail. That really pisses me off. So, with you, we will have you go into the hospital and my other cousin is the nurse who takes the blood daily. She will pretend she is getting blood from you and then bandage you up, and then the vampires will not become suspicious because you are not giving blood. I have to think of everything and outline everything. We will succeed this time and we will save Cody. Have you heard his voice calling out to you anymore?” Stella asks.

  “No, not since that time when I fell in that hole, and then while recovering in your house after you rescued me” I reply.

  “That was probably when he was first kidnapped and he was crying out for help. Now since they are treating him like a king he has probably relaxed some. That is what they want for him to be relaxed. It will make it easier for them if he has let his guard down. They are right now, I am sure, trying to build trust with him. They are probably trying to brainwash him against us. They are telling him negative things about us. I am sure they are saying that we killed Otaktay’s mom and dad, and that everything we have been telling him was a lie. They, I am positive, are making him want to kill us. They have great medicines, and one of them is like a witch doctor and he is trying all kinds of secret, crazy spells. Once we get to him, I am not sure what Cody we will get. Will he be Cody who is your friend, or will he be Cody who wants to kill you and me and anyone else next to us?”

  “We have a best friend bond that is going to be hard to break. I am sure from everything you are saying about them that they will try and try very hard to break him mentally, since they are not trying to break him physically yet.”

  “Trust me, they will do everything to try and break him mentally. They will have him seeing things that are not even really there. They are good that way. Okay, let’s start walking back towards the house. We need to start thinking of everything. If they break him mentally, is there something that you guys would say to each other that he would know and make him snap out of whatever hold they have on him?” asks Stella.

  “Yes, we used to always say we were going to be star football players, so we would walk around saying, hike, hike. I know it sounds stupid, but we would both say we are the quarterback of the team, even though both us of could not play quarterback at the same time, but we both wanted to break school records and have thrown the most touchdowns for the school and at the same school, which is funny because again we could not both be the star quarterback at the same time. Of course look at him and look at me, and you know who would be the star quarterback and who would be sitting on the bench,” I reply.

  “Listen, I have never watched a football game and couldn’t tell you anything about it, so whatever you’re saying to me right now sounds strange. Don’t get me wrong, I have heard of football and I know people play it, but here in the courtyard at school they play soccer all the time. So if you would have referenced soccer phrases, then I would not have been looking at you like you were crazy,” Stella replies.

  “Trust me when I say hike, hike to him: whatever brainwashing they have done to him, he will snap out of it and know it’s me there,” I say.

  “Well, that is good to know because we will need him to snap out of it, or else he might try and kill us once we finally get to him. On the full moon night, I am sure they are trying to glamour him and make him forget about us, but since he has AB-blood it will be hard for them to do that. Your blood is very powerful and that’s why they want it. If they take it any other time when it is not a double moon, then it is nothing to them. It actually burns them almost, like the books say that holy water will do, which we haven’t found to be true yet. Oh, another thing, once Otaktay sees a new person in the village he is going to want to invite you over for dinner and question you to see who you are. So before he does we have to figure out a story of who you are, and something else: in order for him not to smell your blood on you, we are going to have to bathe you in pig shit,” says Stella.

  “Wait, what? You’re kidding me, aren’t you? Pig shit: really?” I reply.

  “Yes, I am not lying to you. Pig shit will mask your blood smell. It’s strong. How do you think Cody kept going over there to their village? He would take a bath in the pig shit, and it worked for a while. At first when he tried it, he threw up, but he eventually got used to it. If he hadn’t had cut himself they would not have smelled his blood. That’s how we know it works. Will it be nasty? Yes it will. Will you want to throw up? Yes you will, but this is all we have come up with that is strong enough to mask the smell. They always accuse us of smelling like pig slop anyway, and if you go over there smelling fresh as a daisy, well, then they will smell your blood and then they will capture both of you and kill both of you on the double moon. You are our only help to finally take down Otaktay. You also have another gift besides the special blood that you have not even realized yet, but we will go over that when we are training. You are going to need help controlling it and understanding it. Once you see it and once you start using it, you are going to be so amazed,” Stella says.

  “Wait,” I say, “I have a special gift: it is charm and good looks. That must be it, because I stink at everything else.”

  “Ha, ha!” Stella bursts out laughing. “Charm and good looks, now that is funny.”

  “Wow, what a way to kill a guy’s self-esteem,” I reply.

  “I am only giving you a hard time,” Stella says.

  “So you do think I have charm and good looks,” I say.

  “The verdict is still out on that right now: I have to see you with pig shit all over you and then decide. Besides, right now we should only be concentrating on how to beat the vampires, unless you want them to suck all of the blood out of you and you be one of them,” Stella says.

  “I actually do not know anything about vampires except for what I have read and at that time I really did not pay any attention to it because it was for school, and since I hated that class I just did enough to get me out of the class with a passing grade. Before you ask, I did pass the class with an A. I am not called a nerd for nothing,” I say.

  “Ha, that’s not the only reason people call you a nerd. You are and you look like a book nerd. You probably never miss school and you sit in the front of the class and the teachers love you and you make straight A’s and haven’t probably ever had a B in class,” Stella says.

  “Wow, am I that transparent that I can come to a different place and meet new people and they can figure out that I am a nerd? Man, I am never going to get away from that, am I?” I reply.

  “We are going to have to get you to become friends with some of the Wasioux so you can get to know them. My cousin knows them pretty good and he is going to help us with the training. Since you are a nerd, they most likely will not fee
l threatened by you, or suspect that you are trying to get information on them. We just need to come up with why you are going there and hanging out.”

  * * *

  CHAPTER 13: TRAINING STARTS

  * * *

  “O «kay, let’s head to the training room. My cousin Trevor I lwill be there waiting for us. Today we just need to start doing some stretching and exercise drills. They start helping you become flexible so that once we are in a battle you can turn fast, or do flips real fast,” Stella says.

  “What, do stretching exercises? I am not flexible at all. I hate stretching, I just want to get started,” I reply.

  “You need to learn how to be flexible. You also will need to be mentally tough along with psychically tough. For the mental toughness, my cousin Anita Kay will help you with that. She will also help you with your special gift that I told you you had. It’s going to take everything we can throw at them to beat them. We have to keep on it. We want to keep training in everything, so we do not miss a step. We do not want them to become immortal. If that happens, that means Cody is not alive and that means eventually none of us will be alive. They will be even stronger and will be able to kill at any time. They will never grow old and they will be much harder to kill. We have to make sure this time we are correct in what we are doing and again we can’t miss a thing,” Stella says.